Where Are We Going?
by Terracea
Summary: Paris? England? Onsen? Oreki's House? Where? Rated T for ChitandaxHoutarou/MayakaxSatoshi scenes in later chapters. Might turn it into "M" if I feel like it.
1. Where to?

**Days before Summer...**

"Shall we go to another Onsen trip?" Chitanda asked.

Satoshi shrugged. Houtarou continued to watch birds mating on a roof outside.

"Chii-chan, shouldn't we do something else?" Ibara said, barely moving her eyes away from her book.

"Well, where are you interested to go?" Chitanda asked once more.

The rest of the members of the Classics Club stopped what they're doing in order to think.

"Hawaii!" Satoshi exclaimed first, banging his palm on the table for added effect. The girls flinched at the sound it made, but Houtarou remained unfazed.

"Okay!" Chitanda said as she wrote the idea on the board. "What about you, Mayaka-san?"

"London, Crowborough, Wallingford!" Mayaka enthusiastically said. When she noticed that all of the people in the room gave her looks of _be-specific-please_, she quickly simplified her statement by saying: "I mean, England!"

"Cool!" Satoshi remarked, giving Mayaka an impressed look. "Two of the places you mentioned are the deathbeds of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dame Agatha Christie!"

"What is it that you don't know, Fuku-chan?" Mayaka said, impressed as well.

"The quadratic formula and the Pythagorean Theorem." Houtarou told her.

Satoshi ignored Houtarou's snide remark (because it's true) and pointed at his brain. "Ha-ha! Database!"

"Fuku-chan, where do you want to go?" Mayaka asked in Chitanda's stead.

"Paris!"

"Okay!" Chitanda repeated as she wrote the suggestion down on the board. Afterwards, she swiftly turned to Oreki. "How about you, Oreki-san?" she asked. "Where do you want to go this summer?"

Houtarou looked outside so that he could continue to watch the birds _fuc_- do their thing.

"Oreki-san?"

"My house."

"Your… house?"

"My house."

"O…kay…" Chitanda said again, a bit differently this time. Despite feeling quite unsure about it, she still wrote it down on the board.

"What about you, Chii-chan?" Mayaka asked. "Are you still planning on going to an Onsen trip?"

Chitanda fidgeted, obviously thinking about another place to go. The rest of the people in the room watched as she paced back and forth in front of the board.

Few moments later, it is apparent that she has decided and declared that she really wants to go to an Onsen trip – but she's pretty fine to go to wherever the club members has decided to pick.

So she wrote "Onsen" on the board.

"Now… how are we going to cast our vote – when clearly… we're going to vote for the places that we suggested?" Satoshi asked.

"Good question!" Chitanda exclaimed, then turned towards Houtarou.

"What?"

"Any ideas, Houtarou?" Satoshi asked him.

"None."

"If I may…" Mayaka said, hence getting Satoshi and Chitanda's attention. "We can try playing a game of _Clue_ in order to see who gets to win."

"Ah, is that the game wherein we get to guess who the killer is, where he killed the person, and what he used as his murder weapon?"

"Ye-"

"Nobody wants to go to Houtarou's house, Mayaka!" Satoshi told her (pretty much _implying_ that _Houtarou's likely to win the game _and because _he desperately wants to go to Paris and can't afford to lose_), then glanced at Houtarou. "Sorry 'bout that."

"I don't want all of you to go to my house." Houtarou admitted.

"Then why suggest it?" Mayaka asked, giving Houtarou an annoyed look.

"Chitanda asked me where I wanted to go this summer."

"Aw come on!" Mayaka exclaimed, "Haven't you considered going somewhere _besides your house_?"

"The public library." Houtarou answered - referring to the time he got curious about something and just wanted to go to the library in order to verify it.

"That's different!"

"I don't mind going anywhere as long as there's a bed."

"Aw, you're hopeless!"

"Great! There's a bed in Paris!" Satoshi said.

"What kind of bed?"

"A king-sized bed! Only for you, Houtarou!"

* * *

**Later... **

"So Oreki and Fuku-chan chose Paris, I want to go to England, and Chii-chan wants to go to an Onsen trip." Mayaka summarized.

"Still up for a game of Clue?" Satoshi asked her.

Before Mayaka could nod her head to agree, she realized Satoshi's _edge_. "Now I know what you're after!" she said, pointing at Houtarou accusingly. "You're using Oreki in order to win your dream trip to Paris!"

Satoshi had his arms up - as if apprehended. "I got caught!"

"I suggest _jankenpon!_" Chitanda put in. Clearly trying to stop Mayaka from attacking Satoshi. "What do you think, Oreki-san?"

Houtarou watched the birds fly away. Probably because of Mayaka's screechy and annoying noises.

Sighing, all Houtarou could ever think about is food. Normally he'd go with something cold since it's around the time wherein the current season starts to shift to summer. But there's this weird craving after watching the birds.

_"Ramen._"

Chitanda blinked. "Ramen?"

"_Ramen_."


	2. Ramen Battle!

**Ey, what's up? Thanks for leaving reviews (most especially your favorite parts/dialogues)! I would also like to thank my beta-reader/co-author in DVL/friend Trixi for giving me a critique, too. Cheers everybody! Hope you will like the second chapter.**

* * *

**Saturday, Chitanda Residence**

"Welcome to the Classics Club's _very first _cooking contest!" Satoshi announced, as Houtarou entered the main hall of the Chitanda estate. The place is considered old yet sturdy - and has also been filled with lots of enormous wooden objects.

"Let me introduce our celebrity guest judge, still a member of the Classics Club – the famous detective of Kamiyama High School... Oreki Houtarou!"

Houtarou smiled wryly. "Celebrity?"

"True!" Satoshi's orange-colored eyes were sparkling. "You're well-known in school because of your ability to solve mysteries. You're like the male version of Nancy Drew."

"Nancy Drew's a very beautiful and popular girl who excelled in everything and always participates in every outdoorsy activity that I never knew existed." Houtarou pointed out.

"I was kind of referring to your _sleuthing_ abilities. Other than that, you're _nothing_ like Nancy Drew." Satoshi said, chuckling a bit.

_Did he just imply something? _Houtarou raised his eyebrows as Satoshi walked away. He carefully slipped his shoes off and stepped on the polished floor of the main hall.

_It's cold._

He stood there for a while, cooling the toes and soles of his feet. The almost-summer heat was almost enough to give him first-degree sunburns. What's worse is that, instead of eating something _cold_ like _ice cream_, he suggested cooking something _hot_ the day before... which led to this - in Satoshi's words - _very first cooking contest._

It took Houtarou a while to realize that he should follow Satoshi or else he'll get lost (again).

* * *

**Minutes later...**

Houtarou arrived at the living room.

Large and sturdy-looking bookcases surrounded the corners of the room. Weird green and pink paper lanterns decorated the ceilings. A rug with the same color covered most of the marble floor. A cashmere sofa was situated in front of a wide-screen television.

The brown-haired boy tapped the raven-haired girl studying cookbooks on the sofa. At the sight of Houtarou, her purple eyes _twinkled_ for a second. She abruptly stood up, which caused some books to fall from her lap to the floor.

"Oreki-san! Welcome!" Chitanda greeted.

The dark-haired boy smiled his "hello" at Chitanda. His eyes slowly wandered again and observed the framed calligraphy on the wall. There were some framed paintings that Chitanda might have made. The paper lanterns he saw earlier may have been Chitanda's handiwork as well.

_How creative._

"Please, sit!" she invitingly said, gesturing her hand towards the sofa.

"Don't mind if I do." Houtarou muttered as he sat on the sofa. His eyes then laid on the wide-screen television. First thing Houtarou realized is that it's bigger than the one they have at home.

"We're only waiting for Mayaka to arrive." Satoshi said.

_No shit, Sherlock. _Houtarou thought.

"Let's hope that she's not late." Chitanda said.

"If she is going to be late, then it's going to be her second time arriving late in a cooking contest." Satoshi said.

_Again, no shit._ Houtarou thought as he switched the television on with the remote control.

After an hour, both men of the Classics Club were sitting laxly on the sofa watching all of the possible shows airing on the television and shared a large bowl of popcorn. The only girl in the room still scanned various cookbooks that featured ancient-looking dishes.

_Ding-dong!_

"That's probably Mayaka." Satoshi said, leaning back in his seat and stretching his arms over his head. "I should go answer the door."

Houtarou rested his head on his arm and yawned. "You probably should. She's going to wait forever if you won't." he said.

"Hai hai." Satoshi said as he stood up and left – which left Houtarou alone with Chitanda. He continued to watch T.V. in an effort to avoid starting the conversation. Besides, Chitanda is engrossed with all those cookbooks in front of her.

Houtarou never thought that this would happen, but he really wished that Satoshi is back in the room – along with that noisy Mayaka.

_But_, his gaze then shifted to the girl reading on the floor. _There's something weird about Chitanda lately._

Chitanda took a sip of her water.

_Water…_

The other day, his older sister told him that a girl with long black hair arrived extremely early in the Oreki residence. Instead of ringing the doorbell, the girl watered the plants outside. When Houtarou asked about the girl, his sister then said: "She's very pretty and she looked really startled when I approached her. When I asked what her name was, she said it was Chitanda Eru. What a polite and thoughtful girl! She said that she watered the plants because she is _aware_ that _you_ were_ too lazy_ to do it!"

"I prefer _energy-conserving_, thank you very much." Houtarou retorted at Chitanda's words delivered by his sister. He figured it was because he complained of having to water the plants twice a week during summer, though.

He gripped the bowl of popcorn tight – resisting the urge to throw it to the girl on the floor. _Damn you and your cuteness! _He would say.

Wait. Did he just call her cute?

_AAAAAAAAAAAA-_

"Oreki-san," Chitanda said, pulling Houtarou out from his mental scream. "What kind of ramen do you like?"

"W-what?" Houtarou used his fingers to nudge popcorn over to his side of the bowl.

Chitanda smiled. "I wanted to make sure that…" her voice trailed off. A thought had just occurred to her.

"If I told you then that would make it cheating." Houtarou told her.

Chitanda sat up straighter, looking thoughtful. Then a grin broke out across her face. "For a moment I forgot that you're the judge, Oreki-san…" she said.

Houtarou couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "You're weird—"

His next words were lost as the door slid open and Satoshi, along with Mayaka burst into the room.

"Let's begin!" Satoshi exclaimed.

* * *

Houtarou found himself watching more television while the rest of the members of the Classics Club started cooking in the kitchen next door.

The airconditioning was in full blast. No signs of the summer heat could be felt.

Houtarou kept his eyes glued to the screen, munching popcorn absentmindedly.

**Meanwhile, in the other room…**

A confident-looking boy with brown hair kept his _orange_ eyes into the boiling water. He threw in a mix of vegetables and some broth that he made himself the day before.

"Satoshi," a petite and equally brown-haired girl with _pink_ eyes said. "Please pass me that rolling pin."

Satoshi gripped on the unused rolling pin and handed it over to Mayaka.

"Thanks!" she said, and resumed back to kneading the dough for her ramen – using the _rolling pin_.

A girl taller than the previous one wore a stylishly pastel-colored t-shirt and skirt. She tied her long black hair into her usual ponytail. Her purple eyes stared at the golden dough in front of her. At first, Satoshi and Mayaka thought that she was waiting for it to change its color. Instead, she pounded on it with no remorse.

Satoshi and Mayaka looked confused. "Is that how you knead your dough, Chii-chan?" Mayaka asked.

"I'm making samurai-inspired noodles! I should be able to apply samurai-like strength! That is – according to this cookbook." She held up an almost-torn and ancient-looking cookbook.

Satoshi thought for a second then looked unsatisfied with his answer to his mental question. "How did you turn your dough into gold, though?" he asked.

Chitanda glanced up from her dough. "Some of my relatives sent me some strange-looking ingredients over the past month." She said.

"Ah, I thought you spread some turkey powder on it… or something." Satoshi told her, with a slight hint of dejection. Mayaka noticed it. She knew that Satoshi's trying hard to think like Houtarou – in order to one day equal or better yet, _surpass_ Houtarou.

As much as she'd like to tell Satoshi encouraging words – there's also a time limit.

_Curse you, Oreki! _Mayaka thought as she hurried back to her own station and started to make her soup boil.

She sighed with frustration. She couldn't understand why her own broth isn't mixing with the water faster. She glanced at Satoshi's station. The boy noticed her looking at him and gave her a thumbs-up.

She blushed.

Chitanda sliced her dough into noodles. Mayaka and Satoshi did the same. Despite the airconditioning, the heat of the battle intensified the heat of the stoves.

Satoshi's soup began to omit a really nice smell. It distracted Chitanda a bit (since she's the one who gets distracted a lot), and made her temporarily stop what she's doing.

"Chii-chan!" Mayaka called out from her station, simultaneously pointing at her soup.

"What is it?" Chitanda stepped forward for a closer look. "That's – oh wow!"

She glanced up at Mayaka, whose fingers were making an obvious V sign. "I can't believe it!" she exclaimed. "The broth worked!"

The broth began to work its way around Mayaka's soup and colored the water with the _perfect_ and _clear_ yellow.

"Ah!" Satoshi yelled, pointing at Chitanda's station.

Gold rays started to dance around the rims of Chitanda's pot. The sight of it was truly incredible.

**An hour later…**

All of them gathered their bowls. The bowls also had tags that indicated who owned which soup.

"Take note that the winner of this contest gets to pick where we are going this summer." Satoshi reminded the girls. Mayaka and Chitanda nodded eagerly. Afterwards, both started chanting their own personal mantra.

"England! England! England!"

"Onsen! Onsen! Onsen!"

"I assume I should start with Satoshi's first." Houtarou muttered softly, shifting to a more comfortable position in the living room couch.

"Alright!" Satoshi confidently cheered.

"My ramen isactually_ beef soup_." He explained. "I thought that adding noodles would make it a mix of beef ramen, too."

Satoshi's ramen was clearly beef-centered. The golden-brown soup surrounded a careful display of beef and vegetables. There were also traces of potato and lettuce.

Houtarou quickly pulled out the noodles and examined them.

Houtarou then drank a spoonful of soup – and ended up drinking more than he thought he would. He also ate the beef and some of the vegetables in the soup and tried adding the noodles with it.

_Interesting._ He thought. "This is very good." He told Satoshi. "The presentation of the food is a bit average, since it looks like you didn't carefully plan the ramen's design. But, the aroma of the soup and the overall and individual tastes are… _almost perfect_."

Satoshi smiled and bowed. "Thank you so much, oh great judge!"

"Did he like it?" Mayaka asked.

"Yes, yes he did." Satoshi told her and gave her another thumbs-up.

"Ibara." Houtarou called from afar.

"Um…" Mayaka hesitantly approached Houtarou. "First and foremost, I don't want to you to rate my ramen based on our personal opinion towards each other… no offense, by the way…" she said.

Houtarou nodded. "None taken."

Mayaka had to admit that was pretty cool of Houtarou. "I guess I might be able to impress you with my ramen, then." She said with a shrug.

"Go ahead."

Mayaka stepped forward for a better look. The ramen settled between Houtarou's hands. "I used chicken, _fresh chicken_. I garnished it with greens on top. But don't get fooled with its simplicity, the broth I used is _extra special_." She told him.

Houtarou observed that the noodles are delicate, so he didn't really apply much force with his chopsticks.

"It contained spices such as…" Mayaka droned. Houtarou stopped listening, though. He drank the soup and gave Mayaka a stern look.

"There were lots of—um yes?" she said, upon noticing Houtarou's direct gaze. It was making her a bit uneasy. What did she do wrong, anyway?

"The greens taste bad."

"Wh-what?"

"The greens taste bad." Houtarou slowly repeated, for emphasis.

Mayaka was shocked. She tried to recall what she did with the greens. "I'm sorry but—I will do something utterly disrespectful and gross."

She grabbed Houtarou's chopsticks and grabbed some greens floating in the soup. She hastily ate it. The greens were crunchy – and bad. The juice inside it was also bad.

When she realized that she cut the greens in the wrong places, she wanted to die in humiliation.

"I'm sorry," was all she could say. "I didn't realize—"

"That's okay, I still liked your soup and noodles." Houtarou assured her. "It's a good meal, actually."

"Thanks, I guess." Mayaka told him, feeling a bit confident.

Houtarou cleared his throat and carefully moved the next bowl between his hands. He couldn't help but notice the strange and eerie gold-ness of the soup inside the bowl.

"Chitanda!" he called.

"Hai!"

"This… is gold?" Houtarou began, pointing at the strange color.

Chitanda nodded. "Yes," she said with a grin. "On that note, I should start explaining."

"Please do."

Chitanda presented the ancient-looking book she showed Satoshi and Mayaka earlier. "It's been written by an ancient samurai." She began. "I thought maybe I could impress you with an ancient dish."

"An ancient…dish?" Houtarou repeated, a bit doubtful. When he started to taste the soup… it was really delicious. It didn't really taste the way it would look like, but it was delicious – still. The noodles didn't quite match the soup, yet individually it tasted good.

"It's good." Houtarou told her. "Very good, individually, that is."

Chitanda nodded. "I understand."

"As a whole… it's an interesting taste. I must say, I don't really know if the noodles are supposed to go well with the soup."

Suddenly, Chitanda's face was near Houtarou's. Her hands were clasped in front of her chest. Houtarou had a gut feeling that he knew what Chitanda's going to say next.

_"I'm curious!" _she yelled.

Mayaka and Satoshi exchanged a glance. "I was certain hers would win," Mayaka told Satoshi. "I mean, her soup's all _wow!_"

"Now's like _ow!_" Satoshi joked.

Houtarou leaned back in his seat, obviously trying to get his face away from Chitanda's.

"Where did I go wrong, Oreki-san?" she pleaded. "Did I lack something? Did I use the wrong ingredients? Tell me!"

"The dough—" Houtarou started to say, still trying to back away from Chitanda. "The dough… what dough did you use?"

Chitanda stood up straight, slowly cupped her chin with her hand. "My relatives sent me that dough over months ago." She explained.

"What kind of dough are you supposed to use, Chitanda?" he asked her again. "Please check what's written on the cookbook."

"You can use any type of dough – that's what it says right here." She said, pointing at the cookbook.

"Then… if that's the case..." Houtarou paused for a second. He started to fiddle with his bangs. "I'm afraid I have to disagree with that book."

"How come?" Mayaka asked.

"If I'm correct, the dough that Chitanda can use must be from the times as ancient as that book." Houtarou said, pointing at Chitanda's book.

"What?" Mayaka said in disbelief. "Where would she be able to get something like that?"

"No, the question is, what is the kind of dough that would complement the soup?" Houtarou said.

Satoshi, also known as the group's _database, _thought carefully. "Rice or wheat." he stated.

"Correct." Houtarou said. "Samurais, being Japanese, must consider rice and wheat as part of their diet. If it really is samurai-themed, then the ingredients used must also be samurai-themed. Although one can also use other kinds of dough, it is _preferable_ that the dough is made out of rice or wheat."

"But why isn't it written on the recipe?" Chitanda asked.

"If the recipe by that samurai is dated before the Edo period then I can assume that the instructions were not written _completely_." Houtarou continued.

Chitanda then checked the _footnotes_ of the page in question. "1570's." she said.

"That's the Azuchi-Momoyama Period." Satoshi pointed out.

"That's the period before the Edo." Mayaka added.

"What were the samurais like before the Edo Period?" Chitanda asked.

"Well, they were known to be less chivalrous." Mayaka said. "Like, they're _selfish_."

"And brutal!" Satoshi added this time. "Didn't hesitate to sacrifice their own family members in order to preserve their personal honor."

"Well, in this case, this samurai is _selfish_." Houtarou pointed out. "Towards the ingredients, that is."

"Said you could use any dough instead of being specific." Satoshi muttered.

"Speaking of which, what kind of dough did you use Chii-chan?" Mayaka asked.

Three heads then turned to face Chitanda.

* * *

**Later... in the dining room...**

"So it was pizza dough." Satoshi said.

"And you won." Mayaka told Satoshi.

"I liked the beef." Houtarou said.

"You like beef?" Chitanda asked Houtarou.

"I don't like it raw." Houtarou joked.

Laughter filled the dining room, as well as the clinking of the chopsticks on plastic bowls filled with ramen.

"It is settled then," Satoshi began. "Since I won the contest, we're going to Paris!"

"To Paris!" Mayaka raised her bowl, as if proposing a toast.

Chitanda and Satoshi followed suit, raising their own bowls.

Houtarou took a while before he raised his.

"To Paris!" All three then said simultaneously. (Houtarou only lip-synched)

* * *

Houtarou arrived home late that evening. Chitanda insisted that all of them should stay the night but none of them carried extra clothes and Chitanda's seem – well, not fit for him and Satoshi to wear. Only Mayaka actually decided to stay, but she told them that she's going to go home after breakfast in order to ask her parents for permission to go to Paris.

Which reminded him to do the same.

He entered the living room only to find light in the kitchen.

"Aneki?" he called out.

"Oh, you're home?" his sister said, her voice coming from the kitchen.

"What are you doing?"

Her head and the ladle she's holding were then visible from the kitchen entrance. "I'm cooking instant ramen! Do you want some?" she offered.

"No thanks!"

_I'll ask her tomorrow_. Houtarou thought, making his way upstairs. As soon as he arrived in his room, he collapsed on his bed and slept.

* * *

**LadyMagix**: Thanks for religiously reading my updates! That's so sweet of you. See you in Philo!

**Benihime**: Thanks a lot! I try my best!

**ChillinLikeaVillain, Pika-Pierrot 3, Ocean1107, Oreki119**: Thanks for the review! Here it is!

**Mindy-chama**: Yes! A day before the _"deadline"_!

**Nathaniel Gatsby**: Second chapter down, one more to go! Thanks for being such a pal, Nate!

**sobloondie **: Thank you so much! Paris won, though. That okay? :)

**juliannaybailar**: Yeah, thanks for the idea!

**Haruna-sama: **They're going to Paris!


End file.
